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Finding your voice

A podcast just for you, just because

When I bought an iPod in 2004, I discovered podcasts. I was curious. I didn't know what they were. Hmmm. Browsing and searching through iTunes, subscribing to dozens of different shows, listening to different ones, I realized how expansive they could be. They could be produced by independent hosts or professional broadcasters. They could be clean or explicit. They could be five minutes long, or an hour and five minutes long. They could be released on a website or thru a directory like iTunes. The one thing that they all had in common is that they were produced by someone passionate about their podcast. And they were be completely entertaining to listen to on my long commute, while pumping milk in an office closet at work, struggling on the treadmill, or sitting at my desk with earbuds tucked snugly in my ears.

Do you know what a podcast is? It's a radio show you can listen to online or download onto an mp3 player. The audio is recorded as an mp3 file and that's pretty much all the techno-jargon I'll get into here. You can subscribe to the "feed," just as you would your favorite blog, so that the new episodes are automatically downloaded for you.

At my daycare, I bonded with three other moms who quickly became my friends. Our conversations would circle around the balancing act or kids/work/family/life. "What do you pack for lunch?" "How late does your kid stay up?" "Did you do the cry-it-out technique?" "I need a new shampoo -- which ones do you like?" And occasionally, we would ask, "Are you working on any of your own projects?" and "Do you have time to do anything creative besides childcare, chores and work?"

As a result, the four of us started recording our own podcast. We call it The Because Show. Each week, away from the husbands and children, we talk about a little bit of everything: stories, concerns, challenges and random digressions.

Having a podcast is rewarding, to find our voice and hear responses from listeners all over the world. It's great to have something to say besides "You peed on the floor -- again?" and "No, you can't have candy for breakfast." -- at least for a couple hours one night a week.

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p.s. I uploaded a new episode of The Because Show this morning, an interview with my dad about the complicated connection between diet and cancer - take a listen,( and you can subscribe in itunes to have it downloaded every week automatically to your mp3 player!)http://thebecauseshow.com